Georgette Braun: Nothing minor about recent alcohol check results

Editor's note: This story has been corrected to reflect the ages of youths buying liquor.

Usually, the list of local businesses cited for selling alcohol to minors contains a handful of names — maybe four to eight — for each compliance check operation.

But a check done on June 24 in Rockford yielded 24 offending businesses out of the 109 visited. Youths ages 18 and 19 years old bought liquor using their own IDs and under supervision by authorities. The legal drinking age in Illinois is 21.

I was surprised at the 22 percent violation rate when I read the list of names in the Register Star and that some higher-end restaurants were cited.

Those involved with conducting the operation — they prefer not to use the word “sting” because of its “gotcha” connotation — said they were floored, too.

“I was shocked,” Christopher Greenwood, community health and prevention coordinator for the city of Rockford’s Human Services Department, told me.

“I was surprised at some of the places,” said Delicia Harris, prevention specialist for the same city department.

The Rockford Police Department’s Community Services Unit and Neighborhood Response Unit combined efforts with the Illinois Liquor Control Commission and the Winnebago County Health Department to conduct the check.

Yet despite our being taken aback by the numbers and places, I was just as surprised that the underage compliance check rate statewide last year was almost exactly the same as the June 24 operation in Rockford, with just 78.6 percent of businesses complying.

“It’s crazy that one out of every five is failing,” said Ted Penesis, education manager for the Illinois Liquor Control Commission. “It’s unacceptable.”

The June check in Rockford was performed using federal money that flows through the state to the city, and it targeted restaurants and bars.

Most of the checks that have been conducted here in recent years — sometimes as many as four annually — have focused on packaged liquor stores, said Larry Didier of the health department. The reason? That’s where youths under age 21 who are illegally buying liquor often go, he said. He is tobacco programs coordinator for the agency but has helped with alcohol checks.

So why change gears now and target restaurants and bars?

“Why not?” Harris said.

The timing seemed right, she said: Youths, including college-aged students, have been celebrating graduations. And the liquor commission was able to provide four agents to help in the operation.

Harris has worked on trying to reduce underage drinking among youths through a multiyear federal grant the Rockford School District received in 2008. Compliance checks can help nip minor alcohol consumption, she said. That’s important because drinking is a gateway to truancy, unprotected sex and risk of disease, among other problems, she said.

Greenwood said business owners need to understand the value of properly training employees to spot underage drinkers.

Bartenders and those who serve underage drinkers can be fined $500, and businesses’ licenses can be suspended or revoked for repeated offenses, Penesis said. Last year, the state liquor control commission assessed $466,125 in fines and revoked seven licenses statewide, he said.

Brad Fosberg, owner of Oscar’s Pub & Grill in Rockford and Jax Pub in Loves Park, said he has taken measures to prevent underage drinkers from being served in his bars. For example, on busy days, those who are carded and look younger than 25 years old are given a wristband to wear and must show it to get drinks.

Fosberg, whose bars were not cited as part of the June operation, doesn’t think the compliance checks are fair, though.

“It’s entrapment and should not be done,” he told me. Law enforcement officials disagree.

Even so, Penesis said restaurants and bars aren’t the big culprits when it comes to underage drinking. “It’s only a small part of the problem,” he said. “A majority of teens get it from friends and family.”

“We need responsible adults,” he said.

Now, that’s no surprise.

Editor’s note: Read the list of businesses in Rockford that were cited on June 24 for selling alcohol to minors at tinyurl.com/oamkm6a.